How you STAND - is how you WALK - is how you RUN!

I often get asked the following questions in my Townsville Podiatry clinic:

How do I run faster?

Should I be running on my forefoot or my heels?

What is the best running shoe for me?

How do I get rid of my stupid shin splints?? (insert frustrated emoji here)

These are all good questions. Certainly - improving your running technique, wearing the most suitable running shoes, training appropriately and getting the right recovery time is integral to improving your performance.

But what is also extremely important to consider is what we do for the other 23 hours a day when we are not running. This has a massive impact on our running gait and efficiency (for example our work footwear, occupation and our sitting, standing and walking posture).

How about we consider these questions as well:

1. What shoes am I shoving my feet in all day at work? Are they switching off my instrinsic foot muscles and making my feet lazy? Are my work shoes pushing my big toe towards my 2nd toe and rendering it a useless arch support? Hang on, are my fancy high heels which shorten my calf muscles all day – are they helping my running gait?!? (I’m talking to the blokes here too – check out the heel height on your business shoes!)

2. How much do I sit down during the day & evening? We humans are supposed to be out in the bush hunting, tall & upright. Instead we sit at computers all day and slump forwards scrolling through Facebook. Even with the best sitting posture, too much sitting equals tight hip flexors and tight glutes. How can we then expect to run tall?

3. Hmmm… do I stand with my feet straight… or do I resemble Donald Duck? Lots of people stand and walk with their feet pointing outwards – instead of forwards. This again switches our glutes off, loads the lower back more and uses our stability muscles for going forwards instead of our prime movers. Check out my video below which explains this a bit better!

So now you are getting my gist...

Your work shoes affect your running

How often you sit at work affects your running

How you stand and walk impacts your running

At Foundation Podiatry we work with you to ensure your running ‘down time’ is also positively contributing to your performance. Purely focusing on running technique and running shoes, and disregarding what we do for the other 23 hours a day will only produce limited results